Ellen White's instruction on the proper application of the tithe funds
is clearly presented by her in Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, pages
245-251. She states that the tithe is to be brought into God's treasury to
sustain gospel laborers (p. 249), and that none should "feel at liberty to
retain their tithe, to use according to their own judgment. They are not to use
it for themselves in an emergency, nor to apply it as they see fit, even in
what they may regard as the Lord's work" (p. 247). Ellen White's policy and
practice was to follow that model. She wrote in 1890, "I pay my tithes gladly
and freely, saying as did David, 'Of thine own have we given thee'"
(Pastoral Ministry, p. 260). At a time when certain denominational
workers were being inadequately sustained or deprived outright of legitimate
salaries, Ellen White acted upon instruction she received from the Lord that
she should assist such workers with her own tithe funds, if necessary. She did
not regard her action as either the withholding of tithe funds from the
treasury or the redirection of them to unauthorized uses. Rather she recognized
the inability of the "regular channels" to meet the needs of those particular
workers at that point in time.